I will make this post very brief--There is already too much talk and not enough action going on in our industry about the likes of Realtor.com and Zillow and how they are ravaging the brokerage community by demanding a huge investment on the part of brokers and agents alike just to do business!! I don't want to give it much more energy, especially since I don't know who to trust anymore within the ranks of big real estate firms--Who do You Trust???

I read sometime ago that Rupert Murdock was taking his position as the new owner of Realtor.com very seriously. I read that he is taking on the Zillow group as they have never been taken on before--That was in 2015! Now in October of 2017 he made another statement about taking on Zillow: MURDOCK MOVES ON ZILLOW

Most real estate agents are unaware that Newscorp.com owns Realtor.com and that Rupert Murdock is the head of that site! His position is that he wants to take on Zillow in a big way, saying "What does 'Zillow' mean, anyway??".

Law suits--all over the place and the game is hardly just begun--by "game" I really mean battle!

These 2 websites will duke it out over and over again at the expense of agents, brokerages and the public at large...Laying waste to the brokerage business in general and the independent contractors, known as "agents", specifically....

Then they will sell out after cleaning up in the game of buying and selling leads (non-existent ones at that!) by targeting the average (uninformed) agent who bought into the Pay-To-Play concept...The ones who made a legal contract to pay thousands and thousands to these 2 firms!

It's all a game of chess folks...a big, fat money game!--Watch who comes out on top!

BIG GUESS: ...IT'S NOT YOU!!! NOT THE BROKERAGE COMMUNITY OR THE PUBLIC

Southamtpon Village Real Estate Specialist since 1995; Also Specializes in North Sea, Noyac, Water Mill and Bridgehampton, New York

Diamond , Gold and Chairman's Circle Awards; Top Producer since 2005

Click here to see my Hampton's website to see all my listings; please email me or call me for all your real estate needs in Southampton, Bridgehampton and Watermill: http://www.elliman.com/paulahathaway

Hi Michelle: Yes it is sad--It is very sad for the agent who believes that they will benefit by giving these guys their hard earned money...Now we will see if class action lawsuits are the way to go in a fight against what they are up to.

Hi Joe: Well, if you read posts here on AR then you have a sense of the impact those sites have on our business--Not that they take business away; just that they clean out the pocketbooks of agents stupid enough to pay them--it is called Pay-TO-Play and then the whole profession takes a turn. This turn is unmanageable; the public is now resisting the agent and broker, not trusting them anymore. Trying to sell their own property--a nightmare I might add. And trying to do a deal directly with an owner who may or may not inform Mr/Mrs buyer that the house was in a major flood; or that it has termites, or radon, or lead paint...etc.....Or that that neighbor has a driveway over part of your new property...and you were never told. There are many layers that an agent goes through to list, sell and close on a deal. it is naive to say the least to think that the average person can manage that whole mess while they work all day. But those sites have instilled a distrust that is crushing the profession--and for many reasons, personal included, I have taken them on and will continue to until the day I leave real estate...